


The Birthday Collection

by EternallyEC



Category: Victorious (TV)
Genre: F/F, Ficlet Collection, Fluff, Idiots in Love, idiots to lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:27:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25020898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EternallyEC/pseuds/EternallyEC
Summary: A series of short ficlets/one shots written for birthdays on the Jori server.
Relationships: Tori Vega/Jade West
Comments: 11
Kudos: 73





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jade wants to get over her fear and Tori helps.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is for **coffeegaze**. Happy birthday, friend, and hope you enjoy!  
> (And one more shoutout to _Correnteza_ for the idea!)

Jade still couldn't believe that she'd let herself be talked into this. (She was blatantly ignoring the fact that this was all her idea, actually. Because to admit that would be to admit just how far she was willing to go to make Tori Vega happy, and that was just  _ grossly sentimental _ and she couldn't quite bring herself to do that.)

Still, the feeling of Tori's hand in hers as they walked into the aquarium made her heart flutter and her courage rise, and she knew that she could handle anything. 

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Tori whispered, giving her hand a squeeze as she scrutinized her. 

And the thing of it was, Jade  _ knew _ that her girlfriend was offering her an out and that she would totally understand if she took it and they had to skip out on the reunion cruise all of their friends were going on and had invited them to come along on. Tori had always been too kind and understanding and sometimes, Jade still struggled to understand what on earth she saw in her. In comparison, facing her fear and at least attempting to go on this cruise with Tori felt like such a small thing. 

With that in mind, she nodded, solidifying her own resolve. "I'm sure," she promised, though whether she was promising herself or Tori, she wasn't quite sure. Either way, the words made Tori beam and lean in to kiss her cheek, and it was absolutely disgusting the way it made Jade's heart flutter in her chest. 

And then it was their turn to buy tickets, the cost for just two of them alone making Jade wince, but Tori paid it without complaint. Leading her by the hand, they entered into a brand-new world, one that immediately made Jade feel uneasy. But Tori's hand tightened around hers and the connection calmed her, grounding her with the reminder that, though they were surrounded by water, they were on solid ground and that Tori had her. 

"If we hurry, we could see the sharks being fed," her girlfriend suggested. The enthusiasm in her tone and on her face was contagious, and Jade found herself grinning back before she even realized it. 

Considering her words, she had to admit that the idea of seeing a bunch of sharks  _ was  _ pretty cool, though. And the idea of seeing them being fed was even cooler. Despite her fear of the ocean, she'd always admired and appreciated the apex predator so many wrote off and misunderstood. She hadn't gone out of her way to learn about them or be face-to-face with them or anything, but she'd picked up some things and thought they were pretty cool. 

So when she nodded and said, "That sounds pretty cool actually,", watching Tori's face light up, she actually meant it.

The pair hurried through a few exhibits, Tori studying the map in her hands with an intense concentration that was honestly pretty damn adorable, and despite a few wrong turns and backtracking, they eventually found themselves standing in a vast tunnel. 

Although Jade's skin crawled at being surrounded by so much water, she had to admit that it was pretty damn cool to be able to watch the sharks swimming around them in nearly every direction. She moved close to the left side of the glass, peering out into the dark water and grinning when a sand tiger shark swam past, mere inches from her face. 

"That was cool," she almost gushed, turning to Tori with a huge grin on her face. "Did you see how close he was?" 

"I had a feeling that you'd love this," Tori chuckled, pulling her in for a quick kiss. "I think the feeding is about to start," she pointed out, glancing at her watch before grinning at Jade. 

They both turned their attention back to the water and, sure enough, the feeding started within a minute or two. They watched in sheer fascination as the sharks devoured the food, the sleek magnificence in their every movement gorgeous and slightly unnerving in a way that Jade found beautiful. 

Somehow, they had the entire tunnel to themselves, and as they stood there hand-in-hand, Jade's fear of the ocean slowly started to shift into more of an understanding. Much like the sharks themselves, she'd feared the ocean because she didn't understand it. But also like the sharks, she was starting to see the beauty in it and understand that, while it commanded respect and caution, maybe she'd misunderstood it for a long while. 

They stayed in the shark tunnel for a while afterwards, content just to hold each other and watch the sharks, but eventually they moved on to explore other areas of the exhibit. Jade's personal favorite was the pettable stingray tank; they acted like puppies, the way they rushed in and pushed each other out of the way to get pet, and it made her laugh as much as Tori to see how they fought over the attention. 

By the end of the day, Jade was utterly exhausted but absolutely thrilled to have come, and she thanked Tori with a sound kiss as soon as they got to the car. 

"What was that for?" Tori chuckled, looking slightly dazed as Jade pinned her to the side of the car with a smirk on her face. 

"That was for coming with me and helping me with this," Jade answered, cupping her cheek and giving her a soft, sweet kiss. "I couldn't have done this without you." 

"You could have if you really wanted to," Tori corrected with a warm smile. "You can do anything, you're braver than anyone I know. But I'm glad that I could be here to make it easier for you." 

Jade couldn't help but kiss her again, partially to hide the way her own eyes were watering. She felt like a shark herself at times, the way most people didn't understand her and didn't bother to learn more to  _ try _ to. But Tori had seen the absolute worst of her and still loved her, seeing the parts of her she'd tried to keep hidden from the world despite her best efforts. 

She didn't know how she'd gotten so damn lucky, but what she did know was that they were going to have the best fucking time on the reunion cruise. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jade taking care of a sick Tori with a side of Tandre BroTP because there's not enough of it in the world. Happy (very belated) birthday, Tofu!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your patience, friend, and I hope you enjoy this!

"I don't feel so good, Andre," Tori whined pitifully, causing her best friend to turn his head and look at her. Almost as though to emphasize her point, she suddenly stumbled and only Andre's quick thinking and movement to catch her kept her from falling to the ground. 

"Whoa there, girl," he said, helping her back up and keeping one arm around her waist when she threatened to stumble again. Touching the back of his hand to her forehead, he let out a low whistle. "You definitely got a fever," he said, helping her over to the couch to sit down.

Tori almost fell onto it, only Andre's steadying influence keeping her mostly upright. She let herself fall over anyway, burying her face in one of the decorative pillows with a pitiful whine. Andre raised an eyebrow as he watched, shaking his head. "You shouldn't be alone," he observed with a sigh. "How long till your parents get here?" 

"They're out of town," Tori groaned, the words muffled but still intelligible enough for Andre to understand. 

"What about Trina?" he asked hopefully, sitting down beside her on the couch. 

"She stowed away in their car because she heard there was a spa," she mumbled, at least coming out from under the pillow for that sentence. Her hair somehow looked like it'd gone through a war already, despite it having been less than a few minutes that she'd been hiding under it. 

"Chiz. So you're here alone?" he questioned, sighing when she nodded. "I'd stay with you but I have that thing this weekend. But seriously girl, you don't look too good." 

"I feel even worse," Tori whined dramatically. 

"Well, you just stay there and let me see what I can do," he said thoughtfully, heading into the kitchen to make some calls. 

Ten minutes later, he came back out to find Tori fast asleep on the couch, soft snores escaping her body as she hugged the pillow to her chest. He debated waking her but decided against it, settling in to watch TV until his Pearphone chimed with a text message notification. 

Quickly opening the door, he smiled with relief at the sight of Jade West standing on the other side. "I was starting to worry you wouldn't show up," he said, stepping aside as she pushed her way into the room. 

"I had nothing better to do," Jade replied, studying the sleeping girl with a critical eye as Andre grabbed his bag. "What's wrong with her anyway?" 

"I'm not sure, Andre shrugged, halfway through the door already. "We'd just finished the song we were working on and she almost fell. She has a fever and she's been acting kind of wonky, so I didn't think she should be alone. Thanks for doing this, bye Jade." 

"Andre!" But her protest was too late as the door closed behind him, leaving her alone with the girl she professed so strongly to hate... And that was enough of that, she thought as she slammed the door on those thoughts, tossing her bag beside the couch and sitting down beside her. 

And if the idea happened to come to her that she should check Tori's temperature, well, it wasn't because she wanted to, necessarily. She'd come over to keep an eye on the younger girl, after all, and how well would she be doing her job if she didn't do that? With that in mind, she leaned over and gently covered her forehead with her palm, moving her hand slightly when she flipped it to repeat the action without risking hitting her with her ring. 

She was hot to the touch, and Jade frowned as she pulled her hand back and studied her again. She really was out of her depth here; for as long as she could remember, she'd been refusing anyone's attention while sick, much preferring to handle it alone and riding it out in her bed by herself. 

But obviously, she couldn't do that here and she bit her lip nervously as she pulled out her Pearphone and debated on a course of action. Finally settling on the idea of who to

call, she scrolled to their contact and hit call, never taking her eyes off the resting brunette. 

"Hey, Mom? I have a question..." 

~

Tori's entire world felt fuzzy and disoriented as she slowly resurfaced, consciousness finding her feeling even worse than she had before her unplanned nap. And oh chiz, she had to be hallucinating, she thought, or her eyes were at least playing tricks on her because there was no way that Jade West was sitting on the end of the couch, looking almost worried about her.

“Finally decide to rejoin the land of the living?” she smirked, and Tori’s eyes widened. Oh chiz, Jade really  _ was  _ here and god, she must look like crap, she thought in dismay, hardly even paying attention to how awful she felt as she tried to sit up and smooth her hair. 

“Jade? What are you doing here?” she asked lamely, trying to comb through her matted hair with little success. 

“Andre called me. He had plans or something, so he needed someone to come stay with you since you look like crap,” she said dryly. “Apparently I was the only one who answered the phone, lucky me.” 

Tori opened her mouth to retort that she hadn’t asked for anything, but it abruptly snapped closed when Jade scooted closer, lightly feeling Tori’s forehead and nodding, seemingly to herself. “What are you doing?” she asked, a little breathless as she stared into the blue-green eyes that were suddenly just inches away from her own. 

“Checking to see if your fever went down at all,” Jade said as though it were obvious, and Tori groaned in embarrassment, letting her eyes flutter closed to try to dampen the intensity of everything. “Do your parents even own a thermometer, Vega?” 

“There’s one in the upstairs bathroom,” she mumbled, opening her eyes again to see Jade looking at her curiously. “Second drawer below the sink.” 

“Got it,” she nodded, standing up and disappearing from sight. She heard the heavy thuds of her going up the stairs, followed by the sound of drawers opening and shutting, and Jade was back with the thermometer in moments. 

“Tongue or armpit?” she asked, sitting back down and uncapping it. Setting the small, easily lost cap on the table, she waved it around with a questioning look. 

“Tongue,” Tori decided, opening her mouth and letting Jade slide the thermometer under her tongue. She wanted to protest, to tell her that she was fully capable of taking her own temperature, thank you very much, but there was something different about this Jade. She seemed to actually  _ care  _ if Tori was okay or not, and there was a certain sort of softness to her usually razor-sharp edges that made her want to keep cooperating. 

When it beeped, Jade wasted no time in pulling it out and examining the display screen with a frown. “It’s only 100.8, so you should be okay,” she said at length, though she still looked displeased. “You should take some Tylenol or something to try to bring it down.” 

Tori vaguely wondered how Jade knew all of this, but she just nodded slightly before freezing, the motion making her head spin. “There should be some in the kitchen,” she told her, trying to hold perfectly still while things spun around her. 

“Got it,” Jade nodded, and Tori closed her eyes when she’d disappeared from view. She heard the sound of the tap running and, a moment later, there was a tapping on her knee until she opened her eyes to see Jade crouched on the floor beside her with a glass of water in one hand and a couple of pills in the other. “Here, drink this and take the Tylenol. If your fever hasn’t gone down in a few hours, we might have to get you to a doctor.” 

Tori wanted to make a joke about the last time they’d both been in the same room with a doctor together, but she stopped herself again at the worry she saw in her eyes. Instead, she took the glass of water and took a few slow sips before swallowing the pills and lying back against the arm of the couch again. Under Jade’s watchful eye, she continued to sip at the water until it was gone. She had to admit that she felt better, the water seeming to cool her off a bit. 

She woke with a start, not having even noticed she’d drifted off to sleep. Her neck ached from the uncomfortable position she’d apparently fallen asleep in, but nothing could have kept the smile off Tori’s face when her eyes adjusted to the dark room and she realized that Jade was asleep at the other end of the couch. 

Feeling a lot better, she slowly maneuvered herself off the couch and covered Jade with a blanket that draped over the back of the couch. She debated waking her up and inviting her to sleep upstairs with her, but she’d seen the Slap video where Cat had tried to wake her up and, between that and her illness, she didn’t really want to risk it. 

When she woke the next morning, Jade was gone. The blanket had been folded and replaced on the back of the couch, the thermometer returned to the bathroom, and the water glass had been washed and set out to dry. It was almost like the entire thing had been a dream, Tori thought with a regretful sigh as she settled onto the couch for a day of channel surfing, feeling better but still not a hundred percent yet. 

And then she saw the small yellow Post-It stuck on the coffee table, familiar handwriting calling to her with the same magnetic pull she felt whenever Jade was in the room. 

_ If I get sick, you owe me one, Vega.  _

_ Make sure to keep checking your temperature. _

_ \- Jade  _

_ P.S. Burn this after reading or I’ll destroy you. I mean it.  _

As always, Tori defied Jade’s orders and secreted the small note away in a box full of mementos before returning to the couch with a bright smile on her face. No illness could keep the warmth from her heart as she lost herself in dumb TV shows and movies, the thought of Jade caring enough to have spent hours with her and leaving a note to remind herself to take care of herself doing more to heal her than the medicine had. 

By the time her parents and Trina had returned home, bickering all the while, she was back to normal. 

Of course, that’s when she got the text message. 

**Vega, get your ass over here.** **_Now._ ** **You owe me, remember?**

Tori grinned and went upstairs to gather supplies. 

She had a debt to repay and, for the first time in a while, she had tangible hope for things to change between them, that her crush might not be so hopeless after all. 

She just hoped she could survive a sick Jade West and find out. 

~FIN 

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think!


End file.
